Balance territories for college recruiters

You are an analyst at a marketing firm that specializes in college recruiting. A large university is a client of your firm, and you are currently working to promote its undergraduate degree programs at high schools in Marion County, Indiana. You are responsible for allocating resources at your firm toward direct promotion, outreach, and enrollment efforts at area high schools.

To help accomplish this, you'll divide the county into recruitment zones, or territories, to assign to members of your team. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create territories that are equally balanced, so each recruiter has a similar workload. You'll ensure each zone has a similar number of high schools and high-school-age people, and that recruiters don't have to cross an interstate highway to visit all of their assigned schools.

This tutorial was last tested on February 2, 2024, using ArcGIS Pro 3.2. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Pro, you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• ArcGIS Pro (see options for software access)
• ArcGIS Business Analyst Pro

Balance Territories for College Recruiters

Create a new territory solution

You'll use ArcGIS Pro with the ArcGIS Business Analyst extension to create a territory solution. A territory solution layer contains all the elements needed to build, edit, and maintain territories. You'll use it to divide Marion County into five recruitment zones.

1. Download the BalancedTerritories project package.
2. Locate the downloaded BalancedTerritories.ppkx file on your computer. Double-click the file to open it in ArcGIS Pro. If prompted, sign in to your ArcGIS account.

   Note:

   If you don't have access to ArcGIS Pro or an ArcGIS organizational account, see options for software access.

   The project contains a map, with layers representing all high school locations, a major interstate highway, and the county boundary.

   

   The map also contains a layer named Marion County Block Groups. The block group is a geographical unit used by the United States Census Bureau. This layer contains two important attributes:

   • HighSchool_Count—The number of high schools in each block group
   • Population_Age_14_To_18—The number of high-school-age residents in each block group

   Note:

   Data rarely comes in the exact format that you need. Read the blog articles Data selection and preparation and No data no problem: Leverage Living Atlas, Spatial Joins, and Data Enrichment to create the layer that you need to learn how the data for this tutorial was prepared.

3. On the ribbon, click the Analysis tab. In the Workflows group, click Business Analysis, and choose New Territory Design Solution.

   

   The Geoprocessing pane appears and the Create Territory Solution tool opens.

   To create territories, you need to assign a base layer, which will act as the foundation of the solution. Here, you will specify the block groups in Marion County as the base.

4. For Input Features, choose Marion County Block Groups.
5. For Territory Solution Name, type RecruitingAreas.

   

6. Click Run.

   A territory solution named RecruitingAreas appears in the Contents pane. It has Marion County Block Groups as its base layer, and empty layers for Territories and Levels.

   

   You don't need to create different levels for this project. But you will solve the solution to create territories. Your aim is to create five territories with relatively equal numbers of high schools and high-school-age people. Next, you'll add these two variables to the solution so you can compare their values after the territories are created.

7. In the Contents pane, click RecruitingAreas to select it. On the ribbon, click the Territory Design tab. In the Analysis group, click Add Variables.

   

   The Add Level Variables tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane. The first three parameters are already populated.

8. Under Variables, for Statistic Field, choose Population_Age_14_To_18. For Statistic, choose Sum.
9. Click the Add another button.

   

10. For the variable, for Statistic Field, choose HighSchool_Count, and for Statistic, choose Sum.

    

11. Click Run.

    Nothing appears to change, but two variables—Population_Age_14_To_18 and HighSchool_Count—have been added to the solution.

12. In the Contents pane, right-click Territories and choose Attribute Table.

    

    No territories have been created yet, so the attribute table is empty. But two columns have been added: Population_Age_14_To_18 and HighSchool_Count. You may need to scroll to the end of the table to see them.

13. Close the attribute table.

    Next, you'll solve the solution to create territories.

14. On the Territory Design tab, in the Analysis group, click Solve.

    

    In the Geoprocessing pane, the Solve Territories tool opens. The first three parameters are already populated. You have five recruiters and want to assign a territory to each of them.

15. For Number of Territories, type 5.

    

16. Click Run.

    The territories are created and added to the map.

17. In the Contents pane, drag RecruitingAreas below Interstate 65.

    

    Now the Public High Schools and Interstate 65 layers are visible.

    

    Note:

    Your territory boundaries and colors may be different from the ones shown in this tutorial. This is because the territories are created by a nondeterministic algorithm, which randomly locates centers for the territories and then draws the boundaries.

18. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save to save the project.

    

Next, you'll examine whether the territories are well balanced. So far, your analysis did not provide any constraints about the number of high schools or students in each territory, so they are likely uneven.

Assess territories with charts

Now that you have divided Marion County into five territories, you'll compare them to see how well balanced they are. You would like each of your five recruiters to receive an even workload.

1. On the Territory Design tab, in the Visualize group, click Create Chart.

   

   A chart appears beneath the map, representing the number of high schools per territory.

   

   In this example, two territories contains 11 schools, while another contains only 5. Your chart may show a different distribution.

   Next, you'll compare values for the Population_Age_14_To_18 variable.

2. At the top of the chart, click Properties.

   

   The Chart Properties - Territories pane appears.

3. Under Numeric field(s), click the Select button, uncheck the HighSchool_Count box, and check the Population_Age_14_To_18 box.

   

4. Click Apply.

   The chart updates to show the number of people of high school age in each territory.

   

5. At the top of the chart, click Attribute Table.

   

   The Territories attribute table appears, and this time it is populated with five rows.

   The Population_Age_14_To_18 and HighSchool_Count columns that you added earlier show the number of high-school-age people and high schools in each territory.

   

   The territories in this example are not well balanced in terms of the target population or the number of high schools. Some territories have a much larger population than others. You want to change this, to make sure that the recruiters’ load is distributed more evenly. You could try running the Solve Territories tool again until you got better results, but this is not a reliable method. Instead, you'll specify additional criteria for the territory solution and then solve it again.

6. Close the attribute table, the chart, and the Chart Properties - Territories pane.

Create territories with additional criteria

The Territory Design solution allows you to establish rules for how the territories are created. You'll specify the following criteria:

• Territories must strive to have an even high-school-age population.
• Each territory must contain between 7 and 10 high schools.
• No territory may cross Interstate 65. This is a major highway with heavy traffic and frequent maintenance and construction projects. It will be more convenient for the recruiters if they do not have to cross it while traveling within their territories.

1. On the Territory Design tab, in the Analysis group, click Balance Variables.

   

   The Set Balance Variables tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane. You'll use it to define variables that the territories should strive to keep balanced.

2. Under Variable, choose Population_Age_14_To_18.

   You are only adding one variable to this tool, so you'll assign it the maximum weight, which is 100.

3. For Weight, type 100.

   

4. Click Run.

   Nothing changes on your map yet. You will need to solve the solution again before you see the effect. But first, you'll apply attribute constraints to the number of high schools.

5. On the Territory Design tab, in the Analysis group, click Attribute Constraints.

   

   The Set Territory Attribute Constraints tool opens. In the example territories shown earlier, the number of high schools ranged from 5 to 11. It will be better if each recruiter has a minimum number of schools that they need to visit.

6. For Variable, choose HighSchool_ Count. For Minimum, type 7. For Maximum, type 10.

   

7. Click Run.

   The territory attribute constraints are now set and will be applied when you solve the solution. Next, you will specify a barrier.

8. On the Territory Design, in the Analysis group, expand the Barriers menu. There are two options:
   • The Add Impedance Barriers option specifies line or polygon features that territories cannot cross.
   • The Add Restricted Areas option specifies areas that cannot be included in any territory.

     You do not want your territories to cross the highway, so you'll specify it as an impedance barrier.

9. Click Add Impedance Barriers.

   

10. In the Add Territory Barriers tool, for Input Barrier Features, choose Interstate 65.

    

11. Click Run.

    The barrier is applied. You are now ready to solve the solution again, and create territories that comply with your criteria and better suit your needs.

12. On the Territory Design tab, in the Analysis group, click Solve.
13. In the Solve Territories tool, for Number of Territories, type 5.
14. Click Run.

    The territories are updated. They no longer cross the highway, except where the highway cuts through block groups themselves.

    

15. Save the project.

Assess new territories with charts

The updated territories satisfy your third criterion and do not cross Interstate 65. Next, you'll use charts to determine if your other two criteria are met. Your hope is that these territories are balanced in terms of both number of high schools and number of high-school-age people.

1. On the Territory Design tab, in the Visualize group, click Create Chart.

   An updated chart of the Population_Age_14_To_18 variable appears.

   

   The updated territories are better balanced by target population compared to the initial territories. They now vary from about 7,400 to 15,000.

2. At the top of the chart, click Properties to open the Chart Properties - Territories pane.
3. Under Numeric field(s), click the Select button. Uncheck the Population_Age_14_To_18 box, and check the HighSchool_Count box. Click Apply.

   The chart updates to show the number of high schools in each territory. The distribution is more even than before. They now vary from 7 to 9, whereas before they varied from 5 to 11.

   

4. At the top of the chart, click Attribute Table to view the attribute table for the updated territories. The territories are better balanced now: each contains 7 to 9 high schools and 7,460 to 14,960 people of high school age.

   

   The workload for the five recruiters is now distributed more evenly, and since no territories cross the interstate highway, their travel between schools should also be easier.

5. Close the attribute table, the chart, and the Chart Properties - Territories pane.

As mentioned earlier, your results may vary, and it is important to remember that creating territories is an iterative and nondeterministic process—you can repeat and run the solve tool until the territories have boundaries that best suit your needs. You may also improve territories by manually editing them.

Manually edit territories

You may see some block groups, colored gray, on your map that were not included in any territory. This can happen sometimes when attribute constraints are set.

Next, you'll manually assign these areas to a territory.

Note:

If your map has no unassigned areas and you still want to complete this part of the tutorial, rerun the Solve Territories tool to create another arrangement of territories. It may require rerunning the tool several times.

1. On the Territory Design tab, in the Active Level group, make sure Active Level is set to Territories.

   

2. In the Edit Territories group, click the Modify Territories button.

   

   The Modify Territories pane appears. You can view the current number of people aged 14 to 18 and high schools in each of the five territories. When assigning features to territories, you will be able to see how these numbers could fluctuate. To do this, you will select and assign the unassigned block groups to a territory.

3. In the Edit Territories group, click the Select button.

   

4. On the map, select any block groups that were not assigned to a territory.

   Tip:

   Press the Shift key while clicking to select multiple features.

   

5. In the Modify Territories pane, click the row for Territory 3.
6. Look at the Population_Age_14_To_18 and HighSchool_Count columns.

   

   The table quantifies how assigning the selected block groups will impact the existing territories' attributes. Green text and a triangle pointing up indicates an increase in value, while red text and an inverted triangle would indicate a decrease in value. Since block groups are being added to Territory 3, there will be an increase in the population and high school count attributes.

7. In the Modify Territories pane, click the Assign button.

   

   The block groups have been assigned. On the map, the reassigned territories are properly colored and, in the Modify Territories pane, the appropriate attributes have been updated.

   

   If any blocks are assigned to territory 3, but appear to be part of another territory, then perform the same steps to select the blocks and assign them to a different territory.

8. On the Territory Design tab, in the Edit Territories group, click the Clear button to clear the selection.

   

9. Close the ModifyTerritories pane.

Create a map of recruitment territories

You now have five well-balanced college recruitment territories for Marion County, Indiana. Next, you'll export the results to a feature class and create a map to share with recruiters.

1. On the Territory Design tab, in the Manage group, click Create Feature Classes.

   

2. In the Create Territory Level Feature Classes tool, under Feature Classes, check the box for Territory Boundaries.

   

3. Click Run.

   A layer named Boundaries of Territories is added to the map.

   Note:

   If you want to export the entire territory solution as a feature class, on the ribbon, on the Territory Design tab, in the Share group, click Export Solution.

   To complete your map, you will label the territories.

4. In the Contents pane, turn off all layers except Public High Schools, Boundaries of Territories, Marion County Boundary, and World Topographic Map.
5. Select the Boundaries of Territories layer.
6. On the ribbon, click the Labeling tab. In the Layer group, click the Label button to turn on labeling.

   

7. In the Label Class group, for Field, choose ID.

   

   The map is now labeled with the territory numbers, but they are difficult to read.

8. In the Text Symbol group, change the font style to Bold and the size to 18.

   

   Finally, you'll use a bend mode so that neighborhoods can be viewed underneath the territories.

9. On the ribbon, click the Feature Layer tab. In the Effects group, for Layer Blend, choose Multiply.

   

   You now have a map of territories that you can share with your college recruiters.

   

10. Save and close the project.

In this tutorial, you used a Territory Design solution workflow to define recruitment zones in Marion County, Indiana. You learned how to use balance variables, attribute constraints, and barriers to create balanced territories with boundaries that are a good fit for your firm’s needs. These territories can be assigned to individual recruiters in your firm to fairly balance the workload between them.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• The Interstate 65 feature class was obtained from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau. This data set is part of the NGDA Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme Community.
• The Marion County Block groups feature class was obtained from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Esri.
• The Marion County Boundary feature class was obtained from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Esri.
• The Public High Schools feature class was derived from the Public Schools dataset defined by the Common Core Data (CCD) for the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) database.
• World Topographic Map basemap. Sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community